Good Earth Essay

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck provides an excellent form of archetypal structure. It shows how nature is clean and pure, while the mechanistic world is corrupt and evil. There are many ways that it can be proven, yet only three are really stressed throughout the novel. The three stressed throughout the novel the entire time are, nature providing, money corrupting, and how the law of the land is the only right way. That was why, in The Good Earth, the archetypal structure, nature versus the mechanistic world was portrayed throughout the entire novel.

Basically, the entire story told the reader that nature is always providing. A way that nature provided for Wang Lung was, "And in the field the wheat seed sprouted and pushed delicate spears of wet green above the delicate brown Earth" (pg, 43). Wang Lung got his fields this way by plowing and farming for many years. By doing this, Wang Lung did his part so nature helped him out. Wang Lung had told a man, not of his superiority, "É Good harvest means good seasons" (pg, 47). This showed how well acquainted Wang Lung was with his land. He was so in-tune with nature that he could tell if it was going to be a good year or not. Thus, throughout the entire novel, nature always provided for Wang Lung and his family.

Another archetypal structure used in the novel was showing how money corrupts. A statement made in the novel concerning this was, "ÉAnd everyone knew now that Wang Lung owned this land, and in his village there was talk of making him head" (pg, 58). This statement was said around the time that Wang Lung started realizing how powerful he was. So after hearing this, Wang Lung got big headed, causing the money to make him corrupted. One line said in the book really sums up how money corrupts, "And am I always to look like a hind when we have enough to spare?" (pg, 186). This occurred when they were living in the Great House and everyone was spoiled. It seems hard to...

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...Thesis:
In The GoodEarth, Pearl S. Buck conveys how wealth leads to loss of traditional values, loss of self, and loss of morals.
Paragraph 1: Traditional values are lost under the influence of wealth.
- "But he could not because of some shame in him when O-lan was there before him, and his shame made him angry, because when he reasoned it, there was no need for shame and he had done no more than, and man may do who has silver to spare" (202).
- "And everyone knew now that Wang Lung owned this land, and in his village there was talk of making him head" (pg, 58).
- “It is cutting my flesh out to give to him and for nothing except that we are of a blood” (46).
Commentary: Wang Lung treats O-lan horribly, but thinks that it is okay to do that because in his head he believes that anyone with that amount of money should be able to treat everyone however they please. His traditional values are pushed aside when he is turned into a different person due to the amount of money he now has. The next quote shows that the dramatic change in social status causes Wang Lung and his family to gradually disconnect with the land. The land was traditionally something to always put your time and effort into, because it would never let you down. After Wang Lung got what he wanted out of it, he began to care less and less. The third quote is showing how Wang Lung is upset that he had to give money to his uncle. He wasn’t forced to give...

...In the book The GoodEarth by Pearl S. Buck, the fall of the House of Hwang and the rise of the
Wang family was shown. The story completed a "circle of life", with Wang being the center of the
circle. While Wang at first was intimidated, he also looked down on the House of Hwang, he soon
found that when his family became rich, his house fell onto some of the same "curses". In both
houses, a lack of love for the land was highly noticeable (except for Wang Lung), opium was used,
slaves were bought and sold even though Wang first opposed slaves, and the future heirs wished to
sell the land for money but at the same time lose their support for if the house should fall.
When the House of Hwang was in power, Wang noticed how they had a complete lack of love
for the earth. They had to constantly sell pieces of land to pay their immediate debts, but by doing
this they gave away their support if a dark time should fall upon the house. Wang knew that this
would be the downfall of the house, so he bought the land from the house. After the House of
Hwang fell, the House of Wang came to power. Wang kept in mind his whole life that without the
goodearth, he was nothing. Wang worried when he noticed that his sons lacked his love for the
land. Wang was disturbed to think that when he passed away his sons would sell the land, and his
family would succumb to the same fate of the Hwang house; as...

...2011
The Nature of Wang Lung
All human beings show emotion, as emotions are a tell-tale sign of who somebody is, what they are to others, and how they react to different situations. When we examine the character Wang Lung from the book The GoodEarth, we see an example of the purest form of the human nature working under difficult situations. Through this book, Wang Lung symbolizes “human nature,” as he shows a dynamic variety of different human attributes from the beginning to the end, such as simplicity, arrogance, and regret. Wang Lung is described as not a boring, static character, but rather a character who struggles with his own inner demons: “…he might appear to be a one-dimensional figure, he actually runs a gamut of human emotions” (Doyle 78). Throughout Wang Lung’s hard life, his reactions to the forces around him are a carbon-copy of what human nature is always susceptible to undertaking.
At the beginning of the book, Wang Lung starts his life out through naivety and tameness; he is like a seed that is yet to reach maturity by sprouting; even as he is going to marry his wife, the gateman takes note of his gullibility and takes advantage over it: “Then seeing that Wang Lung was too innocent he said, ‘A little silver is a good key’” (Buck 14). Men take advantage of the innocent, who do not know much about how the world works. Another example is that although it was custom to treat wives as property, Wang Lung feels...

...Breana Hagen
English Honors 10
August 25, 2010
The GoodEarth Discussion Questions
1. Wang Lung’s expectation of rain, the daily boiling of water for his father, and his bathing for his wedding might foreshadow the start of something new. Rain washes things away, boiling cleanses the water, and washing gets rid of unclean substances, so these things signify turning over a new leaf.
2. Wang Lung feels compelled to purchase the rice field House of Hwang because he believes that land is like flesh and blood to people, and it is too precious to go to waste, so if he buys it he can put it to use and make money for his family. Also, he feels important when buying it from the “great house of Hwang.” At first, he regretted buying it because he wished he had his silver back, considering the land would take hours of labor to work on, and buying it had not been as glorious as he anticipated.
3. “And so this parcel of land became to Wang Lung a sign and a symbol.” In this quote, the author means that Wang Lung looks at this piece of land for determination to keep buying land and making money, so that his hole in the wall would be filled with silver again and his land would “less than an inch in his sight” (Buck, pg.56).
4. Wang Lung considers the birth of his daughter to be a bad omen, but he later comes to regard her with certain affection. At times he would feel responsible for her, and he even felt pity. Before his death, he made sure...

...The GoodEarth
The GoodEarth depicts a famer’s journey to prosper from his land while undergoing many struggles and hardships. Farmer Wang Lung lives in a civilized village where he and the villagers work and live off the land, but when a famine strikes, this forces Wang and his family to move towards the city in search of food and money. In the busy city, that is very chaotic due to a revolution, Wang and his family must rely on begging and stealing instead of relying on the Earth. Throughout the hardships and struggles Wang realizes the privilege of having land that allows him and others thrive off of the Earth.
Taking place in China, Wang is a poor farmer and he and his father take great pride of living off their small amount of land. Wang marries a young woman, O-Lan, who is a slave to the Great House that is owned by the most powerful family in the entire village. Wang is excited to have O-Lan as his wife and is very anxious to have his first son. Eventually, Wang and his wife have two boys and one girl. Also anxious to provide for his family, due to the famine Wang is forced to move his family towards the big city where they plan to return home once they make their earnings. In the city, the family lives off of begging and stealing just to survive. Wang finds a job that pays very little and must provide for his kids, wife, and his father. With a revolution occurring in the...

...The Book The GoodEarth is set in pre-communist China, where the core values of the Chinese were placed in Confucianism. Looking at traditions practiced in The GoodEarth from a Eurocentric bias, one would find many negative aspects about Confucius practices. The submissive nature of women and the obligation of tending to your elders no matter the circumstance would be some examples that stand out in The GoodEarth. The thought of a man succumbing to a woman was unheard of during that time period, but Wang Lung’s character shows sympathy for his wife and daughter that most men would not have felt. This still did not keep Wang Lung from making decisions that were oppressive to the women in his life. This paper will discuss some of the negative aspects of Confucianism that are evident in Pearl Buck’s The GoodEarth, such as the un-appreciation and harsh treatment of women, and the issue with ancestral submission.
Fathers play an important role in influencing their son’s behavior. This notion particularly applies to Confucian culture, which emphasizes filial piety. Filial Piety is central to Confucian role ethics; it is a virtue of respect for one's parents and ancestors. In the beginning of The GoodEarth, It is Wang Lung’s wedding day and he is still left tending to his father by bathing and feeding him. He expresses his...

...The GoodEarth Style
Pearl Buck's style in The GoodEarth has been compared to old Chinese
novels. Actually, it is a simple, direct narrative style. There are no
complicated techniques such as cut-back or stream of consciousness. The
narrative moves along smoothly towards its conclusion. By the same token there
are no complicated subplots or subthemes. Wang Lung is the central character;
the actions of all the other characters relate directly to him. No one in the
story performs any action which is independent of the main action.
Perhaps the greatest strength of the style of Pearl Buck in The GoodEarth is the manner in which her characters perform. No matter what any one
of them does, it is always in keeping with his personality. Nevertheless,
none of them can be described as stereotypes; their motivations are too
complex. In O-lan, the reader sees a person who is fundamentally good. Yet
she does some seemingly wicked things. She steals the jewels from the rich
man's house. Worse than this, she kills her own child. But both of these
actions are consistent with her character and the context of the situations
she is involved in.
Much has been written about Pearl Buck's style of writing in The GoodEarth. One critic calls it "almost Biblical," while others...

...The GoodEarth Book Report
This book report is written for Humanities III, and the instructor Mr. Stiles. It is on The GoodEarth, written by Pearl S. Buck. It contains 368 pages, and was published by The John Day Company. This book is historical fiction, and it has won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1932. As it was the best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, it was an important factor in Buck's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. It is the first book in a trilogy that includes Sons and A House Divided. I read this book for a literature class, but I really enjoyed it as it very well portrayed the life of an average peasant in China during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
The protagonist of The GoodEarth, Wang Lung, begins the novel as a poor, simple farmer forced to marry a slave, and he ends the book as a wealthy person with enough money and power to own concubines. In many ways the strongest and most memorable character in The GoodEarth was O-lan. Her character shows the situation of women in traditional China and the sacrifices they had to make in order to be within the cultural expectations. Another important character is Wang Lung's eldest son. Wang Lung’s oldest son is in many ways similar to Wang Lung himself. The primary difference is that Wang Lung was raised in poverty, and his son is raised in...